2018 SUBARU OUTBACK Complaints

I folded my rear seats down to gain more cargo area room, upon unloading my cargo, I proceeded to fold up my rear seats. Both rear seats folded up and locked, except the driver's side rear seat locked into position but would recline backwards and not stay locked. I have owned this vehicle for seven years and have only had passengers in the rear about a dozen times, and to my knowledge never used the recline feature. The rear seats have been folded down numerous times to gain cargo volume and folded back up. I looked at side drivers side latch and it moves freely back n forth and will not lock like the passenger's does. I pulled on the recline leaver and it has tension on it. I tried pulling on both releases together to no avail. I found this issue on the internet which shows the latch. I feel the is an unsafe condition for a rear driver's side passenger as the seat rocks back n forth. This is link: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The upper portion of the Information touch screen appears to have delaminated resulting in the Information system to randomly change settings on its own. For example, if an iPhone has been connected to the system, it will randomly initiate a call from the phone’s contact list. If a hands free call has been initiated, if will randomly disconnect and switch the call back to the iPhone. It will change radio stations, increase / decrease the volume. The issues present a distraction to the driver as the Information System failure mode is erratic resulting in the Driver to take intervention to correct the issue. Researching online Subaru forums, Customers have reported similar failure modes. In some cases, it appears Subaru has covered the repair costs via an extended warranty. In many cases, it appears the Owner bore the full cost of replacing the entire Information system. I have reached out to Subaru’s Customer Support about the issue on January 12th, 2025. As of today, have not received a response. The attached photo shows the delamination. The bubbles in the upper third are between the overlay and the touchscreen.

I was slowly backing out of a parking space, with no cars coming in either direction, and the car had a loud warning sound and my driver airbag deployed and exploded in my face. The car filled with smoke. I was only halfway out of the parking space when this happened, I was able to pull forward and park safely. I did not hit anything and there was no damage to the car whatsoever. Consequently all of the electronics in the steering column no longer work. Cruise control, stereo volume, mode changer etc.. My husband was able to tuck the airbag into the steering column and tape it, so we could drive home.

Radio intermittently switches channels, touch screen does not comply with commands. Radio has not responded to reset commands.

My 2018 Subaru Outback has an infotainment display that has a Delaminating Screen issue, where the screen that controls so many aspects of the car's functionality (to include safety) is now becoming increasingly harder to see.

The screen that controls everything in the car is delaminating and it prevents the driver from being able to see the back up camera properly and is a distraction to drivers. This is a known issue with this year vehicle. Subaru won’t replace and only offered me 750 to get it fixed which means I would still have to come out of pocket $900 for a known defect. They are aware of the issue and have replaced some vehicles at no charge.

1. Unable to remove key from ignition switch while vehicle is in park. 2. Infotainment system turns itself on when car is started; playback skips on Pandora app. 3. Circular windshield crack appeared spontaneously.

The contact owns a 2018 Subaru Outback. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the infotainment system screen operated independently and an unknown notification alert sounded. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the head unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 77,000.

The infotainment screen has delaminated rendering it unusable and will intermittantly interrupt the backup camera while moving. This is the second screen already with this issue in my vehicle

The radio headunit which houses the backup camera freezes. When this happens, the backup camera does not work. Vehicle was brought to a Subaru dealership, and confirmed that radio unit freezes, and diagnostic did not improve system. Radio unit requires re-manufacturing. I have contacted Subaru and they refuse to address the problem. There is also documentation that talks about a recall on the Harmon Kardon unit we have.